After eleven years of maintaining WhatsApp's ad-free environment, Meta has made a strategic decision to introduce advertising to the platform. This marks a notable departure from the founding team's commitment to keeping WhatsApp free from ads. Meta has announced that businesses can now utilize 'Status Ads' on WhatsApp, guiding users to engage with merchants through messaging features. Importantly, these ads will only appear within the 'Status' tab, minimizing disruption to user experience. Furthermore, Meta plans to monetize WhatsApp's Channels feature by introducing search ads and subscription models.